The Latest Changes You Need to Know About
Google Algorithm 2021
...and How Your Business Can Adapt

(2021 Update) 

Google is constantly evolving its search algorithms, and every time core changes are announced to be released, they become anticipated events.   

Why? It’s simple, by understanding Google, you guarantee your business’ place online. It’s essential to keep in track, that’s why we have made a list of the recent 2021 rollouts that you must know about.

1. MUM Update (May 2021)  

MUM stands for “Multitask Unified Model” and is a new AI-based technology, which aims to understand and provide answers for complex search queries.  

To illustrate it, Google quoted an example. Imagine you want to hike Mt. Adams after you have just hiked Mt. Fuji. You wonder – What are the differences between the two mountains? What are the similarities? What should I do differently? How do I prepare for the hike in Mt. Adams?  

So, instead of performing different searches, typing separately:  

• “What are the differences between Mt. Adams and Mt. Fuji?”  

• “What are the similarities between Mt. Adams and Mt. Fuji?”  
• “How do I prepare for the hike in Mt. Adams?”  

The MUM Update will allow you to find all answers with one search, using contextual information from different sources. This means that you can phrase your questions like this:  

• “I hiked Mt. Adams, and now I will hike Mt. Fuji, what should I do differently to prepare?”  

And still find all you are looking for, even breaking language barriers, as MUM identifies 75 languages, including the one in which your query was written.  

What your business can do to adapt is to regularly perform keyword research to ensure that question keywords are always targeted! Also, you must consider the length of your posts. Long-form content targets long-tail keywords.  

2. Link Spam Update (June 2021)

Affiliate links and sponsored guest posting is how many companies are securing their business with qualified traffic.  

There is really nothing wrong with the creation of outbound links. However, if they are overdone and not annotated correctly, they will be considered a violation of Google’s quality and marketing guidelines, because it will appear as if they were bought. And yes, bought links are against Google’s practices.  

The purpose behind the Link Spam Update is namely to eliminate backlinks and other similar shadowy SEO techniques completely. If you do not want to be caught by Google’s radar, qualify your links appropriately, by adding attribute values, which will signify what is your relationship with the linked page is. – This is the simplest, yet the most thoughtful advice you can receive on the topic.   

3. Page Experience Update (June 2021)  

With the second update of June 2021, three new metrics began assessing website page experience. These metrics, called “core web vitals,” are actuated by real user experiences and measure how visitors perceive the interactions with web pages, beyond its content value, but by considering other factors such as:  

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), or loading speed  

• First Input Delay (FID), or how quick are the page’s responses to the user’s action  
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), or the stability of the page’s layout  

Why is the update important? Because page experience is now part of Google’s ranking systems, as the signals it sends affects the generation of Search results. And although good page experience does not entirely disregard good page content, it still influences the website’s visibility.  

So how can you keep your spot on the first page? – Do eliminate any interstitials or visuals that block the content and slow down your website. Compress heavy images and improve server response time.  

4. Core Update (July 2021)  

When it comes to core updates, it is always hard to isolate specific shifts in Google’s algorithms, keeping in mind that many factors are being evaluated. What has changed is how Google’s systems assess content overall.  

“One way to think of how a core update operates is to imagine you made a list of the top 100 movies in 2015. A few years later in 2019, you refresh the list. It’s going to naturally change. Some new and wonderful movies that never existed before will now be candidates for inclusion. You might also reassess some films and realize they deserved a higher place on the list than they had before. The list will change, and films previously higher on the list that move down aren’t bad. There are simply more deserving films that are coming before them.” – is how Google explained the core update.  

What should you do? We suggest you to focus on offering the best content you can! That’s what Google’s new algorithms seek to reward.  

5. Page Title Update (August 2021)  

It’s not a new practice for Google to change a page’s title in the SERP (Search Engine Result Page) based on the user’s query. The idea behind this is to guarantee that the meta description always aligns with the user’s intent.   

The update this August took this method to another level, as millions of titles were rewritten entirely. Unfortunately, instead of benefiting from it, SEOs began reporting drops in their organic click-through rate.  

Google responded to the negative feedback by stating that a new update would soon follow, and their help page on the topic will be adjusted to reflect better on the August change. In the meantime, you can create good Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) title tags because they remain highly used in Google’s process of generating new titles.  

Conclusion 

Last year’s updates, which you can read about here, were primarily focused on ranking quality. In 2021, Google emphasized more on its search engine mechanisms, which we are yet to discover how have changed in detail.  

Nonetheless, one thing is always certain, Google’s importance for businesses, small or big in size, is great and each and every company must take its time to study it and its ever-evolving algorithms.